


Angry

by Pastel_Teacups



Category: Torchwood
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-04
Updated: 2014-05-04
Packaged: 2018-01-21 21:04:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1564010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pastel_Teacups/pseuds/Pastel_Teacups
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack doesn't want to find the Doctor, but they find one another anyways. The Doctor does the only thing he can.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Angry

Jack had gotten away. 

After Torchwood, after Ianto, after everything, he’d done what he did best: he ran. 

He went across the universe and back, tried to see Ianto again, failed, left the universe again. He went to a new one, and tried to start over. 

It seemed, however, he couldn’t. 

No matter what, his mind went back to Ianto. He seriously considered retconning himself, considered wiping Ianto out of his mind for good. But he couldn’t bring himself to swallow the pill.

Then, of all odds, he found the only person he didn’t want to see anymore. 

He was getting thrown out of a bar, in some town on some planet, when he heard the familiar groaning sound. The sound he used to associate with hope, now with abandonment. 

He’d looked up, eyes wide with a feeling he couldn’t place, watching as the familiar blue box materialized in front of him. 

The door inevitably swung open and, as Jack had expected, the same Doctor with the same face stepped out. 

“Ah, Jack!” He said, voice as bright and cheery as the way Jack didn’t feel anymore. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it? You look-” 

He paused then, looking over the time agent. “You look awful. What’s happened?” 

Jack knew why it was there, but didn’t expect the sudden flare of anger in his chest to ignite. “Where were you?” He demanded, voice shaking. 

“Here and there. Why do you ask?” 

“Where were you when an alien was threatening Earth?” He asked, voice raising as he pushed himself to his feet. “I needed you. They needed you. And you didn’t even have the decency to show up.” 

The Doctor looked extremely sober, and shook his head. “I don’t know. I left Earth alone. I wanted it to have its space.” 

“The twenty-first century’s when it all changes,” He interjected bitterly. “I had people. People I cared about that I lost. You should know how that feels.” 

He sunk to the ground as quickly as he’d come up, and the Doctor soon joined him there. 

There was a moment of discontent silence, before the Doctor spoke. “I’m sorry, Jack. I didn’t know what was happening. If I had known-” 

“Go back, then.” Jack said, voice desperate as his hands found the timelord’s shoulders. “Save him. Please.” 

He shook his head softly, looking conflicted himself. “I can’t. The time, it’s been timeblocked. I don’t know why.” 

Jack let go of him and leaned back against the wall of the bar, drawing his knees to his chest. “He’s gone.” 

There was another moment of thick silence, and then the Doctor spoke up. “Who’s he?” 

Jack didn’t look up, putting his head in his hands. “His name was Ianto. Ianto Jones.” 

“I’ll visit him.” He said it quickly, without hesitation, and nodded when Jack looked up at him. “I always do with others, when I can. Go back as early as I can. I never hang around, just ask them the time or the day. They don’t know me yet. They have no idea.” There was a strange smile on his face, small and conflicted. 

Jack stared at him, unshed tears blurring his vision. “Thank you.” He said softly, nodding at the man.

The Doctor shrugged, wrapping an arm around Jack’s shoulders. “The least I could do for a friend.” 

\-----------

He was handsome. The Doctor couldn’t deny it, and it made his heart ache. This was the man that Jack loved. Loves. 

“Oi, mate.” 

The eventual coffee boy spun around to look at him, wearing a somewhat wrinkled suit. Maybe he hadn’t been early enough. Jack told him he wore a suit. 

It didn’t matter. Ianto didn’t know him. 

“Yeah?” He asked, raising an eyebrow at the stranger when he paused in his words. 

“Sorry. D’you have the time?” The Doctor asked lightly, shoving his hands in his pockets. 

Ianto looked back at him and smiled slightly, a smile mixed with amusement and sarcasm. It was clear why Jack liked him. “Half past ten.” He filled in, nodding softly. 

“Thanks, Ianto.” He nodded. 

When the man-still trying to procure a job at Torchwood with the Harkness man realized it and spun around, the stranger was already gone.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments + Kudos are greatly appreciated!


End file.
